THE former owner of a takeaway which was alleged to have been at the centre of an E.coli outbreak has admitted a series of food hygiene offences.

Ramazan Aslan, 35, was at the time the operator of Llay Fish Bar near Wrexham.
He appeared at Mold Crown Court on Friday where he admitted seven charges brought by Wrexham County Borough Council’s environmental health department.

The defendant admitted that in July 2009 he failed to protect food in that cooked and ready-to-eat food was not protected at all stages of production, processing and distribution, against contamination, likely to render the food unfit for human
consumption.

He failed to notify the council that he had become the food business operator at the fish bar at Council Street in Llay, and failed to put in place permanent procedures to identify hazards or corrective actions, he failed to ensure that his food management procedures were up to date, and failed to have adequate pest control procedures.

Doors were said to be kept open without insect proof screens and an electrical fly killer was not working.

There were no materials for the cleaning or hygienic drying of hands in the food preparation area, no hand drying materials in the staff toilet and the hand wash basin was not available for washing hands because it was used for storing clothes.

He also admitted that being responsible for the development of a food safety management procedure at the premises, he had received inadequate training.

Aslan, of Victoria Road in Ellesmere Port, denied two further charges under The Food Hygiene Regulations 2006 and they were allowed to remain on the file.

But it was stressed in court that the defendant accepted the full prosecution case against him.

He was granted unconditional bail pending sentence next month.

The E.coli outbreak occurred in August 2009.

Four people became seriously ill after contracting the bug, including Wrexham librarian Karen Morrisroe.

Wrexham Council officials closed the takeaway following the concerns.
Judge Niclas Parry said that he had the good sense to plead guilty and that the defendant would be given credit for that.

But it remained a serious matter and the court would consider all its sentencing options, Judge Parry explained.

The takeaway is now under new management not linked to the previous Llay Fish Bar management.